Originally depicted in 1944’s All-American Comics #61 as an enemy of Alan Scott, DC Comics’ first Green Lantern, Solomon Grundy went on to battle Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and any number of other DC heroes.
Grundy’s origins are similar to those of DC’s more heroic Swamp Thing, who did not happen along until the 1970s. Like Swamp Thing, Grundy began life as a man but died violently in a swamp, only to be resurrected with key body parts replaced with “swamp matter” – decaying leaves, branches, moss and fauna.
In James Robinson’s brilliant 1990s Starman comic we learned that Grundy comes back differently every time he is “killed.” A surprisingly benign iteration of Grundy befriended at least two iterations of Starman; this Grundy ended up sacrificing his life to save Starman Jack Knight’s life.
Cyrus Gold, who morphed into the print version of Grundy, appeared in three season-two episodes of “Arrow.”
I sense we’ve already glimpsed The Court of Owls, the Tweedle Bros., Clayface, Killer Croc and The Mad Hatter in and out of Dr. Strange’s basement this season, and series writer-producer John Stephens says we’ll be seeing them next season.
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